Power-transmitting mechanism.



No. 794,899. PATENTED JULY 18, 1905. T. L. & T. J. STURTEVANT.

POWER TRANSMITTING MECHANISM. APPLIUATION F LED JAN. 4. 1905'.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1'.

l azaded/ $221. I w 5% No. 794,899. V PATENTED JULY 18, 1965.; T. L. &T. J. STURTEVANT. POWER TRANSMITTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED JANA. 1905.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

UNITED STATES THOMAS LEGCETT STURTEVANT,

Patented July is, 1905.

PATENT Oinuen.

OF QUINCY, AND THOMAS JOSEPH STUR- TEVANT, OF \NICLLESLEY,MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO STURTE- VANT MILL COMPANY, OF PORTLAND,MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,899, dated July 18,1905.

Application filed January 4, 1905. Serial No. 239,596.

To (M115 whom, it may concern;

Be it known that we, TiioMAs Lneon'r'r STURTEVANT, residing at Quincy,and TlioMAs JOSEPH STUR'IEVANT, residing at Wellesley, in the county ofNorfolk and State of Massachusetts, citizens of the United States, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Power-'IransmittingMechanisms, of which the following is a specilication. 'reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a power-transmitting mechanism by means ofwhich a driven part or shaft may be operated from a driving shaft ormotor at different speeds, preferably through the medium offriction-clutch devices; and the invention has for its object to providemeans whereby the speed-changing mechanism may be controlled, eitherautomatically or non-automatically or manually, in such a manner thatthe motor may run at any desired speed without necessarily im' parting ahigh speed of rotation to the driven part or shaft, as also to providemeans whereby the load or resistance on the driven part or shaft mayexceed a certain predetermined point without necessarily effecting anychange in. the gearing or power-transmitting mechanism.

vThe present invention is preferably but not necessarily carried intoeffect through the medium of fluid-pressure'in which air will preferablybe the pressure medium, and in thus utilizing fluid-pressure for thepurpose of effecting changes from high speed to low speed, or viceversa, a regulation of the fluid-pressure to determine the change ofspeed may be either automatic or non-automatic or by the combination oftheltwo, as may be deemed preferable.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional viewof a powertransmitting mechanism embodying one form of-the presentinvention, and Fig.2 is a detail section on line 2 2, Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, 12 denotes the driving-shaft, which may be apart of a mol tor-shaft or may be operated in any suitable way from anysuitable motor or source of power. The power-shaft 12 is suitablysecured, as by screw-bolts 13, to a fly-wheel and clutch-casing 14,within which is inclosed a-hub 15, splined to a shaft 16, which latteris the shaft or part to be driven and which may be the operating-shaftof an automobile, or the said shaft 16 may be utilized for any otherpurpose. Loosely mounted on the shaft 16 is a sleeve 17, integral orrigid with which are the clutch-hub 18 and the pinion 19, said pinion 19meshing with a gear ring or wheel 20, connected with a hub 21 by asilent ratchet or gripping device, such as is described in our UnitedStates Patent No. 766,551, and comprising spring-pressedgripping-rollers 22. The hub 21 is keyed to a counter-shaft 23, mountedin the gear-casing 23 and provided with a pinion or gear wheel 24, alsokeyed to said shaft and meshing with a gearwheel 25, keyed to the drivenshaft 16.

lnelosed within the easing'or fly-wheel 1 1 are the low-speed clutchdisks or rings 26 and 27., the disks or rings 26 having suitable notchedengagements at their peripheries with suitable lugs or projections onthe interior of the fly-wheel, and the rings or disks 2? having similarnotched engagements with the clutch-hub 18. Also inelosed within the(lywheel are the high-speed clutch disks or rings 28 and 29, the disksor rings 28 being engaged at their peripheries with the fly-wheel andthe disks or rings 29 being engaged at their inner portions with theclutch-hub 15, keyed to the shaft 16. speed and low-speed clutch disksor rings is a master-plate 30, supported by bolts 31 and adapted forslight lateral movements or movements endwise of the shaft 16, the saidmasterplate being pressed against by springs 32, encircling the bolts'31. Any suitable number of the bolts 31 and springs 32 will be provided in a circular series on the fly-wheel, as will be understood.

Attached to the shaft 12 is an eccentric 33, encircled by a strap 34,connected by a rod 35 with a piston 36, working in a cylinder 37,stationarily supported in any suitable manner, the-chamber of the saidcylinder being connected by a pipe 38 with a pressure-cylinder 39,mounted loosely on the shaft 16, and in which'pressure-cylinder 39 is.arranged an an: nular piston 40, which is-in contact with a plate or.disk 41, also loose onthe shaft 16, so

, spring 45, having a tendency to force said sleeve toward the pistonand cylinder 39, so as normally to prevent the clutch-hub 18 fromexertinga clutchingpressure againstthe clutch disks or rings inclosedwithin the fly-wheel 14. The spring presses at its ends against rings 46and 47, between which and other ,rings 48 and 49, encircling the shaft16, are th rust-bearing balls 50.

The pipe 38 is preferably provided with a regulating needle-valv'e51',which may be set as may be desired to permit of the escape of a smallquantity of the pressure fluid from the said pipe 38 to provide for an.automatic regulation of the pressure in the cylinderu39, and the saidpipe 38 is also preferably connected by a pipe 52 with amanually-controllable relief-valve 53, held to its seat by a spring 54within the sleeve 55, the said spring being under the control of apush-rod 56, provided with a button 57, on which the driver of anautomobile may place his foot for the purpose of controlling therelief-valve 53. The rod 56 is preferably provided with notches 58 and59, either of which or other similar notches may be engaged by the toothof a pawl or catch 60, under the control of a spring 61. -"he air-. pumpis preferably provided with check and relief valves 62 63.

The operation of the invention is as follows: When there is little or nofluid-pressure within the cylinder 39,-the spring 45 will hold thelowspeed clutch disks or rings 26 and 27 out of frictional clutchingengagement with each other and the springs 32 will likewise hold thehighspeed clutch rings or disks out of clutching .engagement with eachother, so that the motorshaft and the fly-wheel connected therewith canrun free without imparting any motion to the driven shaft 16. When themotor or driving-sh'aft 12 attains aspeed suflicient to cause the air orfluid pressure pump to raise the pressure in the cylinder 39 to a pointsufficient to overcome the stress of the spring 45, the lowspeedclutch-disks 26 27 will be forced into frictional clutching engagementwith each other, thereby imparting rotary motion to the clutchhub 18,and from the latter, through the sleeve 29 will'be forced intofrictional clutching engagement with each other in such a manner as toimpart motion to the hub 15, splined to the driven shaft 16, and therebydirectly rotate the said shaft so that it will have the same speed ofrotation as the fly-wheel and the motor or driving shaft, and when thehighspeed clutch is thus directly rotating the driven shaft thelow-speed gearing will idly overrun, owing to the fact that thespringpressed rollers 22 will'no longer be in gripping engagement withthe hub 21, so that the lowspeed gearing may run without interferencewith the high-speed,mechanism, as fully set forth in United StatesPatent No. 766,551, hereinbefore referred to.

Owing to the fact that the friction disks or rings are inclosed in thefly-wheel casing, so that they may run inoil, ther'emay be more or lessslip or lost motion between them when the frictional gripping actionfirst takes place or is changing, and thus the driven shaft may bestarted slowly without any sudden jerks, or the changes from-low speedto high speed, or vice versa, may be smoothly efi'ected without any suchsudden jerks or jars as would occur.

if the changes of speed were to take place suddenly, the slipping orlost-motion action of the clutch rings or disks being possible inchanging from high speed to low speed just the same as in'starting or inchanging from low speed to high speed.

It will be understood that the speeds at which the changes from lowspeed to high speed, or vice versa, are to occur may be predetermined bya suitable regulation of the relief or regulating valves 51 or 53, ormay be effected at any time by suitable manipulation of the valve 53 bythe driver or attendant, and that where the invention is applied to antop automobile the regulating valve 5r valves may be setso that anydesired speed of the motor may occur without necessarily setting thehigh-speed clutching device into action, and

ment of the relief or regulating valve or valves may be effected that nochange in the driving mechanism will occur until the load or duty on thedriven shaft 16, such as is determined by the road resistance and suchas may be desired or predetermined changes, and

when the road resistance or the duty on the said shaft 16 falls below acertain predetermined point the high-speed power-transmit- I20 I .itwill also be understood that suchan ad justting mechanism will come intoaction and the low-speed mechanism will then run idly, as hereinbeforedescribed.

While the preferred form of the invention is herein shown and described,the invention is not to be understood as being limited either tothedetails of construction herein shown or to the use of air as a pressuremedium, or, in fact, to the use of a fluid-pressure medium at all forthe purpose of effecting changes of speed, as instead of employing thepressurecylinder 39 and its piston 40 for controlling the frictionalclutching action of the multipledisk clutch devices, such frictionclutching action might be controlled either automatically ornon-automatically by a wedge or similar device forced by the torque orthe road resistance or otherwise between certain parts mounted on thedriven shaft for the purpose of overcoming the stress of the springs 45and 32 in effecting either the low-speed or the high-speed clutchingaction of the clutchdisks; also, instead of employing frictionclutchdevices controlled from outside of the fiy-wheel or clutch-casing or byfluid-pressure any other well-known or equivalent clutching devicesmight be used without departing from the essence of the invention.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combinationwith a rotating driving. part and a rotary part to be driven, of arotating casing, high and low speed clutch devices within said casing,gearing mechanism through which power may be transmitted from one ofsaid clutch devices to the rotary part to be driven, and means. outsideof said casing, for effecting the clutching action of said clutchdevices.

2. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of a rotating casing,clutch devices within said casing, gearing mechanism through which powermay be transmitted from one of said clutch devices to the shaft or partto be driven, and means, outside of said casing and operated byfluidpressure, for effecting the clutching action of the said clutchdevices. I

3. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination-with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of interposed high and lowspeed clutch devices, gearing mechanism, an inclosing rotary casing forthe clutch ing members, and means, outside .of said casing, forefiecting the clutching operation of said members.

4. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of interposed high and lowspeed clutch devices, gearing mechanism, an inclosing rotary casing forthe clutching n,1embers,.and mechanically-operated means, outside ofsaid casing, for effecting the clutching operation of said members.

5. In a power transmitting mechanism adapted for use in automobiles, thecombination with a rotating driving part and a rotary part to be driven,of a gearing and clutch mechanism, mechanically-operated fluid-pressuremeans for effecting the clutching action of the clutch device, and meansfor regulating the action of the fluid-pressure means, so that the saiddriving part or the said driven part may run at any desired speed forany predeterminedload or road resistance.

6. In a power transmitting mechanism adapted for use in automobiles, thecombination With a rotating driving part and a rotary part to be driven,of a gearing and frictionclutch mechanism, mechanically operatedfluid-pressure means for effecting the clutching action of thefriction-clutch device, and means for regulating the action of thefluidpressure means, so that the said driving part or the said drivenpart may run at any desired speed for any predetermined load or roadresistance.

7. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of high and low speedclutch devices, gearing, means, operated by fluid pressure, foreffecting the clutching action of said clutch devices, and springs,acting in opposition to the fluid-pressure means, for disengaging saidclutch devices when the pressure is released.

8. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of high and low speedclutch devices, gearing, means, operated by fluid-pressure, foreffecting the clutching action of said friction-clutch devices, andsprings, acting in opposition to the fluidpressure means, fordisengaging said clutch devices when the pressure is released.

9. In a power-transmitting inechanism, the

combination with a rotating driving part and a rotary part to be driven,of an interposed friction-clutch mechanism, gearing, means, operated byfluid-pressure, for effecting the clutching action of saidfriction-clutch. mechanism, means for regulating the action of thefluid-pressure means, and springs, acting in opposition to thefluid-pressure, for disengaging the clutching parts when the pressure isreleased.

10. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of an interposed clutchmechanism, gearing, a rotating casing inclosing the clutching members,mechanically-operated fluid-pressure means, outside of said casing, foreffecting the clutching action of-said' clutch mechanism, and springsfor eflecting the unclutching of the clutch members.

11. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of an interposedfriction-clutch mechanism, gearing mechanism, a rotating casinginclosing the clutching members, and mechanically operated fluidpressuremeans, outside of said casing, for ef- 5 fecting the clutching action ofsaid frictionclutch mechanism, and springs, acting in opposition to thefluid-pressure, for disengaging the clutching parts when the pressure isreleased.

12. .In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of an interposed clutchmechanism, gearing, a casing inclosing the clutching mem bers,mechanically-operated 5 fluid-pressure means, outside of said casing,

for etfe'cting the clutching action of said clutch mechanism, means forregulating the action of the fluid-pressure means, and springs fordisengaging the clutching members. 20 a 1,3. Inapower-transmittingmechanism, the combination with a rotating driving part and a rotarypart to be driven, of an interposed friction-clutch device, gearingmechanism, a casing inclosing the clutching members, me- 5chanically-operated fluid-pressu re means, outside of said casing, forelfecting the clutching action of said friction-clutch device, means forregulating the action of the fluid-pressure means, and springs fordisengaging the cl utch- 3 ing members.

14. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the

combination with a rotating driving part and a rotary part to be driven,of a high-speed clutch device directly connected with said part to bedriven, a low-speed clutch device having a gearing connection with saidpart to be driven, means for preventing interference between the clutchmechanisms when either is operatively running, and means, operated byfluid-pressure, for effecting the clutching action of said clutchdevices.

15. In a power-transmitting mechanism, the combination with a rotatingdriving part and a rotary part to be driven, of a high-speedfriction-clutch device directly connected with said part to be driven, alow-speed frictionclutch device having a gearing connection with saidpart to be driven, means for preventinginterference between the clutchmech anisms when either is operatively running,

and means, operated by fluid-pressure, for ef-' fecting the clutchingaction of said frictionclutch devices;

in testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

THOMAS LEGGETT SllUR'llllVANl.v THOMAS JOSEPH: STURTEVANT. Witnesses:

W. H. ELLIS, L. H. STURTEVANT.

